J. Gonzalez - The Corporation

Michelle nodded. “Yes,” she said.

The dinner lasted till nine-thirty. After the main meal was finished, drinks were served. Discussion continued to flourish and Michelle took part in it with great success. She took it easy with the drinks, limiting herself to two glasses of wine. Dessert was offered and Michelle passed. When the party broke up and ventured outside, Michelle was grateful for the diversion. She stood by as Sam parted with Bruce and Connie. “We’ll be in at eight o’clock sharp,” he said.

“Wonderful.” Bruce turned to Michelle. “I’m looking forward to working with you, Ms. Dowling.”

“I’m looking forward to being part of the team,” Michelle said.

Sam and Gary drove her back to her hotel, which was two miles up the road and was part of the Marriot chain. “We’ll meet you in the lobby at seven-thirty sharp,” Sam told her as they helped her with her bags.

“Sounds fine,” Michelle said.

“We’ll probably have breakfast tomorrow in the executive dining room,” Gary said as they ventured into the lobby. Michelle was trailing her suitcase, briefcase, and laptop. “So bring your appetite.”

Once Michelle was in her room—Gary and Sam were staying in separate rooms two floors above her—Michelle collapsed on the king-sized bed and tried to control her emotions. Seeing her mother this afternoon had pushed her over the edge. She hadn’t expected that and she was certain mother hadn’t recognized her. Seeing mom had picked at the scab holding the unpleasant memories of her past that had built up over the years, and she’d done a good job at staunching the flow of emotion that wanted to pour out of those old wounds. Now they seeped out and Michelle allowed herself to let them out: the abandonment she’d felt as a child, the feeling that her parents never cared for her as they worked long hours and finally, her mother’s callous attitude toward Michelle’s pregnancy. She refused to allow the loss of Alanis to get the best of her. She sat up, took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. She had to get through this, had to do what she was brought here to do. She knew that everything Alan and Rachel told her now was the truth. She’d seen the vapid expressions displayed en masse at Corporate Financial headquarters, felt the overpowering miasma of the unholy vibe, of some noxious evil that permeated the building she could see how it could infiltrate into the body and persona of somebody who was vulnerable for acceptance. The vibe in the entire executive suite had been even stronger—Michelle could tell the minute she’d stepped off the elevator to the fourth floor, but she’d blocked its influence and how she really felt about it out of her stance. Had she allowed herself to react naturally to it she would have screamed and run like hell out of the building. Instead, she reacted as an undercover narcotic agent would have reacted at the scene of criminal activity and it wasn’t yet time to make an arrest: she’d pretended like she was one of them and they had bought it completely.

She slipped out of her shoes and shrugged her jacket off. Then she scooped her cellular phone out of her purse and, knowing already Donald had tried calling her from the message light blinking on her phone, called him. “Hey, honey.”

“Michelle! You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Hearing Donald’s voice sounded so good. “I saw my mother today.”

Pause. “At Corporate Financial Headquarters?”

“Yes.” The memories resurfaced again along with all the bad vibes. “She’s one of the top executives for the company. And she didn’t even recognize me!”

“Oh my God,” Donald said.

“She was just… just like she was when I last saw her, only worse.” Michelle closed her eyes, willing the bad feelings back. “I don’t think anybody noticed a physical resemblance but… it wouldn’t surprise me if they did. Sam mentioned something about us having the same last name.”

“Did you talk to her at all?”

“As little as possible,” Michelle said, feeling better the more she talked about this to Donald. “I didn’t go out of my way to avoid her, and I didn’t let on that I recognized her or that she was my mother. She reacted the same way.”

“Could you tell if she recognized you? Was there anything in her posture, her attitude or demeanor?”

“Nothing.”

“Jesus.”

Michelle sighed. “Things are going very well for them. I haven’t seen anything on the news much today, but I heard MSNBC has been blasting them.”

“Jay and I have been monitoring the news on our drive,” Donald said. “And there hasn’t been anything on the radio.”

“Most radio stations are owned by one or two big companies,” Michelle said. “They’re probably in Corporate Financial’s pocket.”

“Exactly.”

“Where are you guys now?”

“Colorado.” There was a short pause. “We just passed a little town two hours outside of Loveland and we’re going to gas up and switch places in about an hour.”

“Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah. We’re doing okay. We’re taking turns with the driving, and the back seat is comfortable for sleeping. Jay doesn’t need much sleep anyway thanks to all the caffeine he drinks. It’s a wonder we’re making such good time. You’d think with all the coke and coffee he drinks we’d be stopping every thirty minutes for a pit stop for him to pee.”

Michelle heard Jay’s voice in the background respond to this but she couldn’t make out what he said.

“Be careful,” Michelle said. She wished Donald was here with her now.

“I will,” Donald said. “You be careful, too. We should be there late in the day tomorrow.”

“Probably more like tomorrow night.” The thought of this chilled her. “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

“Call Alan,” Donald said. “Tell him where you are. He’ll fill you in.”

“Have you been in touch with him?”

“Yes, and everything’s running smoothly.”

“I’m scared,” Michelle said. The fear hit her again hard and fast. She didn’t want to go through with this. She just wanted it to all go away.

“I am too, but we have to go through with this. If we don’t act now, Corporate Financial—the things controlling Corporate Financial—will take over and we’ll be enslaved. The entire human race will be subservient to the whims of a thing , an entity we can’t even begin to fathom. It’ll be like one of those science-fiction movies that’s on late night TV, where humans exist as slaves for some unseen alien hybrid. Only in this case it isn’t really alien, but something demonic… something so spiritually evil that I can’t even begin to describe it.”

Michelle didn’t want to think about the possibilities of what this all might entail. Knowing that Phase One and Two were going to be bad enough by forcing people to work twelve, fourteen, even eighteen hour days and keep them away from their families was enough to motivate her to barrel through the fear and regain her senses. For the past few hours she’d fantasized about how they were going to accomplish this: would their political power pressure police departments all over the country to keep workers in line? The thought chilled her. “I’m going to call Alan now,” she said. “Please call me tomorrow morning? At seven? I’ll need to hear your voice before I start my day tomorrow.”

“You’ve got it,” Donald said. “Seven sharp.”

“I love you,” Michelle said.

“Love you, too.”

After they hung up Michelle sat on the bed for a moment, silently wishing Donald and Jay would get to Calistoga quickly, then she regained her composure and called Alan. He answered on the third ring. “I’m here,” she said. “The Marriot on Pine Grove, room two eighty-seven.”